Electric Orange Hermit Crab

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The Electric Orange Hermit Crab is a colorful cleaner for the marine aquarium. It has bright orange legs with brown banding. Unlike many members of the Diogenidae family, however, the Electric Orange Hermit Crab has unusually blue eyes. Like its Electric Blue cousin, this hermit crab grows to a considerable 2" size and consumes large amounts of algae, uneaten fish food, and detritus in your aquarium.

The Electric Orange Hermit Crab is native to the Hawaiian Islands. Wild species make its home in abandoned snail or triton shells and pick amongst substrate and reef crevices for algae, seaweed, and other food sources. In the home aquarium, the Electric Orange Hermit Crab requires a similar, well-established environment with live rock outcroppings to forage amongst. With its voracious appetite for algae, the Electric Orange Hermit Crab will help keep green hair algae and cyanobacteria levels diminished in the aquarium. As an added benefit, this species of Calcinus also helps aerate your aquarium substrate as it sifts through the sand in search of food sources.

Many aquarists supply dried seaweed to keep hungry Electric Orange Hermit Crabs fed when algae levels are insufficient. The Electric Orange Hermit Crab also benefits from meaty foods, such as mysis shrimp. In addition, accommodate molting and growth with a variety of empty and larger shells. Though hardy, the Electric Orange Hermit Crab does not tolerate copper-based medications or fluctuating water parameters.